Pope Francis's body is laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)

Pope Francis ‘ funeral has been set for Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, and a viewing of his body began today in St. Peter’s Basilica, days after the popular pontiff died of a stroke at age 88. He had been lying in state in the Santa Marta Domus in a private viewing for Vatican residents and the papal household.

Cardinals met at the Vatican on Tuesday to schedule Francis’ funeral and burial, plan the conclave to elect his successor and make other decisions about running the Catholic Church as world leaders and the ordinary faithful grieve the pontiff’s death.

History’s first Latin American pontiff charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated many conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change. He last appeared in public on Sunday with an Easter blessing and popemobile tour through a cheering crowd in St. Peter’s Square.

Here’s the latest:

UN chief will attend the pope’s funeral

Pope Francis and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “shared a lot of commonalities, notably on climate change, on migration and on human dignity,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday.

Pope Francis slipped into a coma and died without suffering, Vatican reports

Francis showed the first signs of illness at around 5:30 a.m. on Easter Monday and fell into a coma an hour later, “after making a gesture of farewell with his hand” to his personal health care assistant, Massimiliano Strappetti, according to Vatican News.

The people who were with Francis at the time say he didn’t appear to have suffered, the official Vatican news agency reported Tuesday.

Francis was happy for a final tour through Easter crowd, despite health worries

Pope Francis had doubts about the Easter Sunday popemobile ride through St. Peter’s Square, the first among the throngs of faithful since surviving near-fatal pneumonia, Vatican News reported on Tuesday.

“Do you think I can manage it?” the pontiff asked Massimiliano Strappetti, his personal health care assistant, Vatican News reported.

The pope was reassured and he stopped to embrace people, especially children, as he was driven through the crowd of 50,000.

Afterward, Francis told Strappetti, “Thank you for bringing me back to the square,” Vatican News reported. On his previous outings to St. Peter’s Square during his convalescence, the pope was pushed in a wheelchair to the altar from the basilica, not out into the wider crowd.

A nun in Thailand who is Francis’ cousin recalls the moment she learned about his death

The late pope’s second cousin, who is a Silesian nun at a Catholic school in northeastern Thailand, says learning of his death affected her deeply, because “we are relatives, and I never expected such news so suddenly.”

“So I ask God to take him to heaven, and from heaven he will bless us,” Sister Ana Rosa Sivori told journalists Tuesday in the capital Bangkok ahead of a memorial church service.

She came to Thailand in 1966 as a young sister from Argentina, and was at the Pope’s side as a translator during his 2019 trip to Bangkok. She is due to fly to Italy Wednesday for his funeral.

Like many, she recalled Francis as strong in speaking his mind, especially on behalf of poor people, even if it were something the listener rather not hear.

Which cardinals are seen as contenders to be the next pope?

Even though cardinals don’t campaign for the job, there are always front-runners going into a conclave to choose the next pope. These candidates, known as “papabile,” have what are regarded to be the qualities to be pope.

While any baptized Roman Catholic male is eligible, only cardinals have been selected since 1378. The winner must receive at least two-thirds of the vote from those cardinals who are under age 80 and thus eligible to participate. The sacred and secretive process is no popularity contest, but rather considered to be the divinely inspired election of Christ’s Vicar on Earth by the princes of the church.

Who were some of Pope Francis’ biggest critics?

Every pope has his critics. And Pope Francis probably expected that he would face opposition to his reform agenda after Catholics for two generations grew used to more conservative, doctrine-minded pontiffs.

But his critics were unique in that for the first years of his pontificate, they had a living alternate as a point of reference: Pope Benedict XVI. Among those who made their mark during Francis’ pontificate were Benedict’s longtime secretary as well as a former Vatican ambassador to the U.S.

Also included were four conservative cardinals who asked questions about Francis’ decision to open the door to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion.

While Pope Benedict XVI resigned, Francis saw his duty to be ‘ad vitam’

Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, stunned the world when he announced his resignation in 2013 — the first in 600 years. That led some to wonder as Francis grew increasingly frail and sick if he would follow in his predecessor’s footsteps.

While Francis kept open the possibility, and even had a resignation letter prepared, he said more recently that he believed that the papacy was for life and pointed out the risks that papal resignations might become a “fashion” or the norm.

“I believe that the pope’s ministry is ad vitam (for life). I see no reason why it shouldn’t be so,” he said, according to closed-door comments reported by the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica.

What is St. Peter’s Basilica?

Pope Francis’ body will lay in state on the main altar of the 16th century basilica, built over the traditional tomb of the apostle St. Peter. The Renaissance masterpiece is one of the largest Catholic basilicas in the world and is the centerpiece of Vatican City. Its grottoes contain the remains of popes past, and its vast marbled interior is home to some of the Vatican’s greatest treasures — including Michelangelo’s “Pieta” sculpture and Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s baldacchinio, the gilded canopy over the main altar.

Pope Julius II laid the first stone of the building on the site of a previous church on April 18, 1506. But it took over a century for work to be completed. In the 17th century, Bernini designed the great colonnade that encircles the piazza in front of the basilica, embracing all those who enter. The next pope will be introduced to the world from the loggia over the basilica entrance with the words “Habemus Papam” or “We have a pope.”

Italy begins five days of mourning for Francis

The period of national mourning will run from Tuesday to Saturday. Ceremonies on Friday marking Italy’s World War II Liberation Day will be held with “due sobriety,” said Italy’s Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci.

Palestinians in Bethlehem mourn Pope Francis at Manger Square

Bethlehem is home to the Church of the Nativity, where Christians believe Jesus was born. Pope Francis visited the city in 2014.

“He was our pope, not just our pope, he was our brother, our friend, our dear friend for Bethlehem. He always gave us big hope, he told us that you are not alone,” said Rony Tabash, 43. The Catholic hung photos of Pope Francis outside his souvenir shop that’s been in his family for three generations.

Manger Square and Tuesday’s mass were mostly empty. The Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is dependent on tourism, but visitors and pilgrims have largely stayed away in recent years — first during the pandemic and then during the 18-month war in Gaza.

Work is underway to prepare Francis’ tomb

A wooden barrier on Tuesday covered the niche where Pope Francis will be buried in the Saint Mary Major Basilica, near an icon of Mary that he held dear, rather than St. Peter’s Cathedral or its crypt alongside previous popes

In his will, Francis called for his tomb to be “in the ground; simple, without particular decoration, and with the sole inscription: Franciscus,” or Latin for Francis.

Before and after every foreign trip, he would stop to pray before the image of Mary draped in a blue robe, holding the infant Jesus. Francis last went to pray at the icon before Holy Week.